


Forging New Bonds

by Small_Hobbit



Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22577824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: After Adam's death, Lucas and Ros start to form an alliance
Relationships: Lucas North & Ros Myers
Comments: 16
Kudos: 8
Collections: Story Works





	1. Not a Good Place

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DW's Story Works February New Things Challenge - Try a new pairing

Adam was dead; he could hardly take it in. Just when he thought he was getting a finger hold back on normal life, the branch he was holding got blown up. He knew he should be able to cope, after all, operatives had died before. But that was then, and this was now, when his emotions were still too raw to process any further setback.

He heard the knock on the door and wanted to ignore it. But if he did one of the other tenants was sure to complain. Simpler to get rid of the caller and return to the blanket on the sofa.

It was Ros. “Can I come in?” she asked.

“You don’t want to be with me, the state I’m in,” he replied.

“I don’t want to be on my own. I don’t want to talk; I just need to know there’s another living breathing human being in the vicinity.”

“Okay.” He opened the door fully and let her in. “The armchair’s all yours.”

She nodded, wrapped herself in a fleece blanket she took from her bag, and curled up in the armchair.

Lucas returned to the sofa and pulled his own blanket over his head.


	2. Background Support

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for DW's Fan Flashworks "Background" challenge

It was hard, taking over from Adam as head of Section D. In better circumstances, Ros would have been delighted to have the role. In most cases, even if her predecessor had died, she would have felt a certain thrill at achieving something her career had been leading her towards, but not this time. She had been too close to Adam to feel anything other than sadness and loss.

Nevertheless, when Harry Pearce had offered her the role, she had accepted. Her father might have said it was her duty, but it was much more than that. Yes, the work needed to continue, but she knew too she was best placed to provide the support for the rest of the team, who were also grieving.

When she had come back from Harry’s office, and he’d announced her new position, she’d noticed Lucas’ half smile directed at her. And, over the next few days, she’d felt his support in the background; a hand rested briefly on her shoulder or her arm, a cup of tea unexpectedly appearing, even once a doughnut in a crumpled paper bag. He never said anything, but she knew he saw what was happening, and, more than most, understood what she was going through.

For Lucas had his own ghosts, and plenty of them. He never asked for help, never acknowledged he needed any, but there were certain traits he had which Ros recognised meant he was reaching the end of his tether. On those days she’d call in on him after work, make some coffee, sometimes bring a takeaway for them to share. She never asked him how he was feeling, or offered any advice, but stayed in the background, returning the support he gave her during the day.


	3. Half A World Away

“Lucas, come back to us,” Ros said gently. “You’re quite safe here. There’s just Jo and Malcolm and me.”

Lucas blinked and looked around. He took a couple of deep breaths and Jo went to pass him some water, but Malcolm put out his hand to stop her. “He’ll ask if he wants some,” Malcolm said.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas said. His hands were shaking, and his breathing still sounded ragged. “I don’t know what is was, something triggered my brain and I was miles away.”

“That’s okay,” Ros said. “Take it easy. We’re here for you if you need us.”


	4. Making an Impression

Ros was looking thoughtful when Lucas came onto the Grid, so he asked her whether anything was up.

“Harry and I are meeting our counterparts at the CIA tomorrow, and Harry has asked me to come suitably dressed. Do I wear something black or grey, or do I go for something different?”

Lucas grinned at her. “Go for something exotic. Bright colours, make it distinctive. Keep them guessing about you.”

“And what do I say to Harry?”

“Tell him you’re out to make an impression and want them to remember you.”

“He’ll know you’ve put me up to it.”

“Good!”


	5. An Explosive Mix

The argument Lucas and Harry Pearce were having could clearly be heard, despite the door to Harry’s office being shut.

“It’s a bit like putting sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid together,” Malcolm remarked.

Lucas stormed out of Harry’s office.

Ros stood up. “Come on, Lucas, let’s get some lunch,” she said. 

He looked as though he was going to argue, but then he nodded and took up his coat.

Ros turned towards Malcolm and said quietly, “I’ll take the baking soda out for a breath of fresh air and leave you to give the vinegar something else to think about.”


	6. The Huntress

It was to be a clandestine meeting; an apparent ally had made Ros an offer she couldn’t possibly refuse. But like any good huntress, she had checked out the location, and got him to agree to a couple of small adjustments which would tip the balance in her favour. Her backup was in place, but Ros was hoping to bring down the quarry herself. 

At the hotel he greeted her, and suggested they go to his room. She had agreed and listened as he outlined his plans. Suddenly, something alerted him and, realising Ros had double crossed him, he made a lunge at her. Thirty seconds later he was lying face down on the floor, his arms pinioned firmly behind him.

Having brought down her prey, Ros would soon call in her backup to help drag it back to her lair. But before she did so, she intended impressing on the man that Ros Myers was not to be bought.


	7. William Blake - The Ancient of Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally Written for DW's 100 words "Masterpiece" prompt, with an added response from LJ's comment fic

Ros Myers looked critically at Lucas North. “How are you?” she asked.

“Surviving,” he replied.

“That’s not good enough.”

“It’s all I can manage.”

She nodded. “I know. But I’d like you to do more than just survive.”

“I do my job. What more do you want?”

“Oh, Lucas. This isn’t about whether you do your job. I know you don’t want to talk about your past, and that’s fine. Just like your tattoos it can’t be erased. But there must be something I can do to help you.”

“Come to an exhibition with me.”

Ros was surprised at Lucas’ reply and didn’t answer immediately.

“I knew you didn’t mean it,” Lucas said.

“Of course I’ll come. Which one do you want to go to?”

“William Blake at the Tate.”

“I’m busy Saturday morning, would Saturday afternoon do?”

“If you mean it, I’ll get tickets,” Lucas said. He gave Ros a half smile.

She smiled back. “Please do.”

#####

“Thank you for coming with me,” Lucas said. They were standing in the middle of an exhibition of William Blake’s paintings.

“It’s not a problem,” Ros replied, “Although I admit I was surprised when you asked me.”

“They’re masterpieces and I really wanted to see them, but I couldn’t be sure how I would react, so I didn’t dare come by myself.”

“I can understand that.” She looked at the painting of _The Ancient of Days_ and felt Lucas tense. She touched his elbow. “Take as much time as you want. Enjoy the painting. I’m here if you need me.”


	8. On the Dance Floor

Lucas and Ros stood on one side of the dance floor. Lucas threw his hands up in the air and shouted, to be heard above the music, “If you can’t dance then I don’t know what you’re doing here!”

Ros sparked back, “It wasn’t my suggestion to come in the first place.”

Lucas spun on his heel and approached a woman sitting at one of the tables close by. “I don’t suppose you’d like to dance,” he said. “My partner doesn’t feel like it.”

She glanced over at the man she was with, who shrugged and said, “Go ahead! You know I don’t dance.”

Lucas escorted her into the middle of the dance floor, where they soon disappeared amongst the other dancers.

Ros looked at the man, and said, rather tearfully, “Do you mind if I sit down for a few minutes. There aren’t any other chairs available.”

“Be my guest!”

When, a few songs later, Ros saw the woman coming back across the dance floor. She stood, leant forward to thank the man and departed.

Once outside the building, she found Lucas waiting for her. “I got my bug planted,” she said.

“So did I,” Lucas replied. “She wasn’t even a very good dancer. You’re much better!”


	9. Travelling by Tube

Ros and Lucas were travelling by tube to meet a possible contact. As more and more people pushed their way into their carriage, Ros spotted Lucas looking very pale and tense.

She battled past a group of tourists to reach Lucas’ side and touched his arm. He started visibly, and she caught a glimpse of panic in his eyes, before he realised it was her.

“Get off at the next stop,” Ros said. “The crush in here is ridiculous. It won’t take you long to walk the rest of the way.”

“I’m supposed to be with you, as back up.”

“You’ll come up from behind the building. If, as we suspect, she slips off as soon as she spots me, you’ll have a much better chance of following her, because she’ll take to the side roads and you’ll already be there.”

The train was beginning to slow as it came into the station.

“Go now,” Ros ordered. “Half the train will get off at my stop, so it’ll take me a while to get through the barriers.”

Lucas leapt off the train and sprinted up the stairs.

“And at this rate,” Ros continued to herself, “you’ll be there before me.”


	10. Life on the Grid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Various drabbles/ficlets written for prompts on LJ's comment fic

Lucas North looked nervously around. The closest streetlight wasn’t working in the narrow street and the overhanging buildings were casting eerie shadows. He took a deep breath and stood still, trying to hear if there was anything moving. Footsteps at the end of the street, and he slipped into the shadows himself, waiting to see who was coming.

It was two men, who were roughly pulling a woman along between them. One of the men demanded she tell them who she really was. Lucas slipped out of the shadows and grabbed the man’s arms, while Ros Myers overpowered the other.

#####

Lucas was not going to give up. He’d chased his mark through winding alleyways, drawing ever closer. The man had turned and fired, Lucas dodging out of the direct line of fire, but one of the bullets had ricocheted off a dustbin and hit him in the shoulder. He pressed his hand to the wound but forced his feet to keep running. The other man was tiring and slowly Lucas gained on him, until he finally caught up. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder he pushed the man to the ground and knocked him out. Then he called for help.

#####

“What exactly do you two juveniles think you are doing?” Ros demanded.

She had arrived at the Grid to find Lucas and Tariq fighting in the middle with their rulers. They paused and Tariq turned to face Ros, slightly shamefaced. Lucas took advantage and pressed his ruler into Tariq’s side, “Touché!”

Ros advanced across the floor, removed Tariq’s ruler from his hand and faced Lucas. “En garde!”

The fight was spirited but soon over, Lucas’ ruler flying through the air and Ros standing triumphant.

“Get back to work, all of you,” she said.

“Yes, O Queen of Swords!” Lucas grinned.

#####

“Not so clever now are you, Mr North?” the man sneered.

Lucas shrugged. He could feel his eye throbbing where he’d been hit; it would be a prize black eye in a little while.

“You fell for our little trap. You all think you’re so clever, you don’t see what’s right under your noses. We’ll be away soon, with the goods. But you, sadly, won’t see us leave.”

“I don’t know about that,” Lucas replied. “I’ve still got one eye I can see out of.”

The man was about to hit Lucas again, when the door burst open and Ros came in, her gun levelled at the man’s chest.

“You were saying something about a trap?” Lucas asked.

#####

Harry Pearce was furious, telling Lucas in no uncertain terms just what he thought of his latest actions. “You knew what the plan was, and yet you blatantly disregarded it.” Harry’s voice got louder as he emphasised each word separately.

Lucas merely shrugged and looked back. To most of those watching he seemed totally unphased by Harry’s response. Ros, however, spotted the way Lucas’ hand was flexing. She knew he’d had his reasons for what he’d done, but it was clear he wouldn’t stand up for himself before Harry. She understood why; Harry simply wouldn’t listen.

She decided to step in. “I will deal with this,” she said firmly.

Harry looked at her and then stormed back into his office.

Lucas stood up and looked as if he was about to storm off the Grid in his turn.

“If you want to go out for some fresh air, Lucas,” Ros said, “That’s fine by me. But I’m coming with you.”

She grabbed her coat and hurried after him, grateful that he had slowed his pace slightly as he left the office. “I know why you did it,” she said.

“There was no choice,” Lucas replied.

“In the circumstances, I agree. And I suspect I’d have done the same in your position. Let’s go and grab a coffee and we can discuss how we can respond if this situation ever comes up again.”

Lucas nodded.


	11. Manchester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for DW's Ficlet_zone Reverse Fandom Challenge for The West Wing, using Manchester (part 1) and Manchester (part 2) as the prompt

Ros Myers knew the importance of the meeting they were going to. It had taken weeks of careful preparation and meticulous research by the whole team to ensure she and Lucas would be able to join the group. And now they were travelling up to Manchester to meet them for the first time.

She and Lucas were posing as a husband and wife team, who ran a successful business with links in various parts of Europe. They had explained they were looking to expand their business into more of eastern Europe and were hoping to find suitable contacts. The group was composed of other people in a similar situation and the stated intention was they assist one another.

In reality, the group were acting as couriers for various documents which were delivered or transferred between a number of ex-Soviet satellite countries, depending on who was prepared to pay. While this had not initially concerned Section D, there were indications the group were planning on expanding their activities, and, given how successful the group appeared to be, Harry Pearce was taking no chances.

Ros and Lucas left the train at Manchester Piccadilly station and took a taxi to the address they had been given. They were welcomed into the smart apartment and introduced to the rest of the group, who clearly all knew each other already. 

After a little general small talk, one of the women said, “Grace said you were in business together, but I forget what type of business she said it was.”

Ros began to explain, and quickly became very conscious that the questioning, although apparently friendly was also very specific. She and Lucas had spent many hours rehearsing what they would say, including when they would contradict each other.

One of the men immediately picked up on it, saying, “When your wife was talking about your last trip to Vienna, she mentioned spending most of your time in a different street.”

Lucas smiled. “Time expands and contracts to suit the speaker. My memories are mostly of the cafés and the cakes they had, so I may be concentrating rather more on them.” He started to describe some of the cakes and Grace hurriedly moved the conversation on. 

Ros was satisfied. There was absolutely no way anyone was going to find fault with Lucas’ descriptions of cake. She began to state their case a little more proactively and was delighted when the rest of the group seemed to warm to them.

At that point, Grace checked her watch. “This all sounds very promising,” she said. “It’s time we made our way to the restaurant. I booked a table for seven o’clock to allow time for those who have to travel home afterwards. You are able to join us, aren’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” Ros said. “We’d be delighted. We’ve booked a hotel room, as we weren’t sure what time we’d finish, and since we came up by train it seemed wise.”

“Indeed. Shall we go?”

Ros was aware Grace still didn’t completely trust them and seemed to be watching quite intently. However, Lucas taking her hand as they left the apartment appeared to provide some reassurance. It was clear that they’d made a good start, but there was still plenty of opportunity for it to fall apart.

###

Lucas had been reasonably satisfied with the way their initial contact with the group had gone. Most of the people had seemed to accept them for who they claimed to be. Even the man who had queried their deliberate inaccuracy had believed his reply and offered his own suggestion of suitable places to visit if they went to Budapest. However, Lucas had sensed Grace still had suspicions, and he’d noticed a couple of other appraising glances. He had therefore made a point of taking Ros’ hand when they left the apartment to emphasis their status.

Grace had clearly booked a specific table and was seeking to position Lucas and Ros in the place where they’d be at greatest disadvantage. Lucas, however, managed to manoeuvre them into rather better seats by claiming he needed the legroom, a fact none of them could legitimately dispute.

They ordered, and Lucas was happily eating his meal, which was very good, when Ros nudged him.

“Slow down,” she said. Then, looking around she added, “You’d think he hadn’t had any lunch today.”

“I don’t count railway sandwiches as lunch,” he replied. It was true, he had been eating much faster than everyone else, nowadays he always did, but at the same time he knew this was an agreed distraction technique. “Sorry folks, I’m always being told to take time to enjoy my food.”

Everyone nodded and continued to eat and talk in small groups. Lucas took a sip of the excellent wine. Both he and Ros were being careful not to drink too much, and he saw that many of the others were doing so too. 

Over the dessert, which Lucas fully intended eating slowly and savouring, he came to the conclusion that although Grace was organising everything and apparently the one in charge, the actual group leader was someone else. And it was that person, rather than Grace, they would have to convince. A moment’s reflection and Lucas knew it was Craig, the man who had engineered to take the seat opposite him, even though he himself had changed seats.

Craig, rather like Lucas, had been observing rather than taking part for most of the time. Lucas decided to see if he could get him talking and said, “One of the problems of only being in these cities for a limited period is that there’s never time to properly enjoy the art galleries.”

“That’s true. Did you get to anything in Vienna?”

“A quick dash round the Monet exhibition at the Albertina Museum, but nothing like long enough.”

“I saw the one at the Grand Palais in Paris a few years ago. That was well worth spending time in.”

They continued to discuss art and Lucas felt reasonably confident Craig was convinced that he was genuine. As part of their preparation Lucas had spent a couple of days in several major European cities, in order to make up for his enforced absence in Russia. Ros had told him to concentrate on areas which would establish his credentials if anyone questioned him, so he’d spent an enjoyable time taking in some of the cultural highlights. It seemed to be paying off.

Finally, the meal came to an end. They were all heading towards the doorway, when Craig called to Ros and said, “Excuse me, is this your scarf?”

“Oh, yes, it is,” she replied. “It must have fallen out of my coat.”

She went back to the coat stand, where Craig was standing. As she reached it, he said, “How does Riga next week sound to you?”

“It sounds lovely.”

“Splendid. Here’s my card. Come and see me first thing on Tuesday morning and we’ll finalise the details.” He shook hands with both Ros and Lucas and left.

Once Craig had gone, Lucas put his arm around Ros’ shoulder and said, “Shall we head for our hotel?”

They walked outside and Lucas hailed a taxi. He could tell from Ros’ expression she was as satisfied as he was at the way the evening had gone.


	12. The Hotel Room

"Thank goodness that’s over,” Lucas North said. He and Ros Myers had reached their hotel room and Ros inserted the key card.

“Agreed,” Ros said. “Still at least we’ve achieved what we came for. Now all I want is to have a shower and go to sleep.”

“Don’t you want to help finish the wine?” Lucas asked, producing the bottle from his coat pocket.

Ros laughed. “You didn’t bring the glasses as well did you?”

“No, but I’m sure we’ll manage. Unless you’re too posh to drink wine out of coffee mugs.”

“I can think of worse things.”

They went into the room and dumped their overnight bags on the floor.

“Oh,” Lucas said. “It’s a double bed. That’s okay I can sleep in the chair.”

“What did you expect? We’re supposed to be a married couple. Jo could hardly make the booking specifying two single beds at either end of the room.”

“No, but it could have been two singles pushed together. That would have been okay.”

“Lucas, it’s a kingsize bed. For one night, I think we can manage.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Completely. Now, pour the wine while I have my shower.”

Once Ros had showered, Lucas did the same. He found she had already got into bed when he returned, so walked round and climbed in the other side.

“Please tell me it’s not one of those occasions when two people are forced to share a bed and then realise that they’re meant to be together,” Lucas said.

“You’ve been reading Jo’s trashy romances again, haven’t you? Well, I can assure you this isn’t one of them. Now lie down and go to sleep!”

Ros lay down and turned so her back was to Lucas.

He did the same and then muttered, “You could say we’ve got each other’s backs.”

Ros sat up and hit him with her pillow.


End file.
